Incredible Years

Learning through play

This programme enables teachers to understand how to best support students’ socio-emotional skill development and competencies. An evidence-based programme, it focuses on teachers supporting children to develop strong problem-solving skills, emotional literacy and to have positive social interactions with both their peers teachers and caregivers. The New Entrants class has also been trialling learning and teaching through guided play based learning.

Play is a time when children can try out ideas, take risks, try on different roles, share feeling and thoughts. It provides a safe context for children to learn.

Both the Incredible Years programme and Play Based Learning have a significant body of evidence demonstrating their effectiveness in successful outcomes for student learning. Furthermore, both align with the vision, values and key competencies of the New Zealand School Curriculum and reflect the neuroscience research on how children grow great brains for their adult working lives.